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Dear Frankie
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 26 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by: Andrea Gibb
Directed by: Shona Auerbach
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 4, 2005
DVD: July 5, 2005
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for language
Starring Emily Mortimer, Jack McElhone, Mary Riggans, Sharon Small, Sophie Main, Katy Murphy, Sean Brown, and Jayd Johnson
A heartwarming and often humorous tale of nine year old Frankie and his mom Lizzie. (Miramax)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
An endearing, occasionally sentimental story told with depth and substance.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The bold long shot near the end of Dear Frankie allows the film to move straight as an arrow toward its emotional truth, without a single word or plot manipulation to distract us.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
The movie is filled with small moments of tenderness, insight and considerable wisdom.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Material that might have turned to standard dysfunctional family treacle in other hands is given stirring poignancy, warmth and emotional insight in Shona Auerbach's assured first feature.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
What could have been a sentimental train wreck emerges as a funny and touching portrait of three bruised people.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
It is a sweet, wonderfully acted cameo of a movie about the lengths to which a lioness will go to protect her cub.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
The movie's still shameless; the difference is you don't mind.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Very well crafted and superbly acted. Whatever you may think of the idea, its execution is admirable.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
For anyone who has ever had to balance what the heart yearns for against what the head insists must be, this film should hit home.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The movie has been shot with love and wisdom, and its implausible premise doesn't get in the way of a sweetness and honesty too rarely seen.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Dear Frankie is a small movie with a big soul and no easy formula for the happiness of its big-hearted characters.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
But as the story takes some surprising turns, it works like a slow infection: Patient audience members may find themselves awakening to the story in much the same way the characters awaken to their own capacities for tenderness.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Doesn't revert to hairpin plot twists or other dramatic trickery to hook us in; Auerbach simply lets us live with her characters-which, it turns out, is reward enough.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The film, with its painterly juxtapositions of dockside industry, green hills, and cloud-scudded sky, is full of misguided motives and fairy-tale fraud. But it rings true at heart.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
The film tugs at us. And we forgive it its faults because it never loses sight of what it's supposed to be even though the story has a manipulative edge and maneuvers our feelings.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Within this overly familiar trope, there's plenty of room for small surprises, not the least of which are delightful, understated performances all around.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
"Miramax porn." The term refers to manipulative tearjerkers like Dear Frankie whose sensitive performances, along with a light dusting of grit, allow them to be marketed as art films. This one is clever enough to fool a lot of people.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
On its own terms, Dear Frankie works much better than it really has any right to. Auerbach tells a small, contrived story, but gives it the weight of life.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Ross Williams
While the film isn’t completely perfect, director and cinematographer Shona Auerbach shows that she’s a great new filmmaking talent.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The end result is an unremarkable, unmemorable movie that deserves neither praise nor approbation.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The film is soft and sticky, but it deserves a (small) audience. If you're in that peculiar kind of blue mood where you'd like to be just a bit bluer, Dear Frankie might be the right choice.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Dear Frankie's surprises are few and low-key, but the story wraps up nicely.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
Happily, the director and writer Andrea Gibb treat little Frankie with as much dramatic respect as the grown-up characters, and he saves the movie from killing sweetness.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Well acted, capably directed, not as substantial as it might have been.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
The movie’s glib trafficking in illness, death and pinched little faces to jury-rig our emotional responses (Gibb was inspired by the equally likable, equally pandering Czech film "Kolya") lost me at hello.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
I’m all for ambiguity, but Dear Frankie’s multiple dangling threads indicate incoherent storytelling, not profundity.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Somehow the U.K. film industry can always scrounge enough loose change from the cushions to foot the bill for a pre-chewed lump of sickly saltwater taffy like the mawkish Scottish-seaside postcard Dear Frankie.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A Scottish weepie of such bathos and balderdash that it deserves a drinking game in its rotten honor.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Paul D. gave it an8:
Contrived, but very touching movie that works because of capable direction and outstanding cast.
Julie G. gave it a10:
Wonderful, endearing story. I would love to see a sequel. It's been a while since we have rented and found a film we have not been disappointed in. I definitely plan to purchase this one.
Paul K. gave it a10:
I first saw the preview of "Dear Frankie" on the Finding Neverland DVD and bought a copy. It is one of the best films I have seen. The script and performances are all outstanding. The film could have become corny or maudlin and sentimental, but managed to avoid every pitfall and be genuinely moving and believable, given the unlikelihood of the set-up. I'm 65 and have watched the film 6 times in the month I own it.
Chad S. gave it a7:
Frankie(Jack McElhone) is deaf, not dumb, but Lizzie(Emily Mortimer) forgets her own words when she enlists The Stranger(Gerald Butler) to play surrogate daddy for her son. Great strokes of luck obscures the consequences that Lizzie would've faced having supplied Frankie with an extra dad, but the talented cast makes "Dear Frankie" work. A parent should be the last person in the world to condescend towards a disabled person because it's something they'll face their own lives. It was wrong of her to dupe Frankie. But Mortimer invests so much compassion in her born-to-be-maternal face, it's only after "Dear Frankie" is over that we realize what she had done was wrong.
Jen gave it a10:
I really liked this Movie! I really like Gerald Butler and he was awesome in this movie. The movie is simple, but also moving at the same time. I don' t like how the movie ended, but hopefully they will make a sequel.
Katie L. gave it a10:
This was the best, heart-wrenching movie I've ever seen! It's so simple, yet profound. I hope they make a sequel... :)
Dahlia A. gave it a9:
Beautiful, simple, and heartwarming with great performances. Solid B+
